Playing with Bones

[B. de Corbin]

Part 1 -History:

A. Pieces of worked bone have been found in sites occupied by ancient humans. These seem to date back to the very beginning of humanity.

B. Bone has been used to make body adornments and tools by every single known human culture.

C. Although bone tools have become fairly rare today (although there are some), bone is still used to make both simple and sophisticated artworks - very typically jewelry - today.

There are very good reasons why bone has been so popular - it is very strong, it is very easy to work, and it is very lovely.

Working the Bone (Primitive Method):What you will need are:
A big bone
A rock, about the size of your head, with a reasonably flat spot on it
A rounded, egg shaped rock that you can grip comfortably in your fist
The smoothest, flatish, gently rounded river stone you can find - it should be about the size of a quarter.

Directions:
1. Lay the bone on the flat surface of the large rock.
2. Grasp the rounded egg shaped rock firmly in your hand, and smack it down on the big bone. Keep doing this until big chunks of bone break off.
3.4.5.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Playing with Bones

Part 2 -

Working the Bone (Modern Method):


Sandpaper - buy an assortment pack with course, medium, and fine paper (the roughness of the sandpaper is determined by the grit number - the lower the number, the rougher the paper. You want something around 150, 220, 320).

Steel woolA BastardA coping sawA Drill or Dremel-type tool, and drill bitsMiscellaneous stuff - like a pencil and ruler, and other things, depending on what you intend to make.

A bonehttp://www.contenti.com/).

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Playing with Bones

Part 3

Decorating Your Bone:Scrimshaw:Simple Carving:

[Ophidia]

Re: Playing with Bones

This is awesome! Thank you!

[Monk]

Re: Playing with Bones

I like working with bone also as it is a fairly easy medium to work with. It also acquires a nice patina as it is handled and ages. The only thing I don't like is how it smells when you cut it with a band saw or grind/sand(power) it into a shape. Smalls like the dentist working on a tooth.

[ChainLightning]

Re: Playing with Bones

Awesome thread, B!!!

I'm gonna start a new hobby with all them buried bo... umm, nevermind. ;D

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: Playing with Bones

Very cool! I never knew how that was done.

[Dez]

Re: Playing with Bones

Oh, this is awesome.

I've been looking for a source for bone beads for some of the dolls I've been making. Much better to make them myself!

[Corvus]

Re: Playing with Bones

I have most of this stuff lying around I think ill try this

[Ophidia]

Re: Playing with Bones

What does it say about us that none of us are concerned about where to get bones?



I mean, I have an excuse - I have a dog... but you other folks, I don't know about you...

[LadyGarnetRose]

Re: Playing with Bones

What does it say about us that none of us are concerned about where to get bones?



I mean, I have an excuse - I have a dog... but you other folks, I don't know about you...

Well Corbin did say where to find bones

I get them from hunting, antlers or horns and hide as well for my projects (I gotta get some pictures anybody willing to donate a camera? -- j/k I just haven't had time to get to the city to buy one -- BTW Cameras and tillers do not mix just an FYI) since we moved to the boonies.

Thinking about it the last antelope I took, absolutely none of the animal has gone to waste (got pigs next door, literally pigs you should see them with the offal they go mad for it). While I haven't done anything with the hide yet (waiting for inspiration) it is tanned and packed waiting for inspiration.


Corbin,

Those bottles are gorgeous. Question, how do you clean the marrow fully out of the hollow? Or do you leave some behind?

[Dez]

Re: Playing with Bones

Hahaha...good point perz!

I don't have any hunting contacts...rather strange since I'm out here I know, but the local butcher holds onto some big beef bones for me, which clean up nicely after 6-8 hours in the stock pot.

[Tylluan Penry]

Re: Playing with Bones

Thank you so much for all that info, de Corbin and also for the lovely photos. Early prisoners of war, especially from the Napoleonic war used to carve the bones in the stew they were given to eat. They would make pots and vases to sell to try and raise extra funds to make their lives a little easier. I'm sure it applied to other wars, too.

I like working with bone also as it is a fairly easy medium to work with. It also acquires a nice patina as it is handled and ages. The only thing I don't like is how it smells when you cut it with a band saw or grind/sand(power) it into a shape. Smalls like the dentist working on a tooth.

Yes! And this is how you can tell real scrimshaw from fake stuff done in resin - heat up a pin, stick it in somewhere insignificant and see if it smells like being at the dentists! If it does then it's a natural product, if it simply slides in then it's resin.

[Monk]

Re: Playing with Bones

[QUOTE=perzephone;47255]What does it say about us that none of us are concerned about where to get bones?

People can acquire their bones from many sources without having to kill something just to get bones.
Corbin has a good size piece of land that he lives on and it is mostly full of trees. So he can find bones from animals that die in his woods. Same for anyone who likes to take long walks in any wooded (or desert) area you just have to keep an eye out for such things. And as Tylluan said soup bones work nice too.
I have made some pendents out of bone, and even one ring. All of these pieces have been scrimshawed by myself to add to their natural appeal.
I like using old bone that I sometimes dig up in my yard, my house sits on part of a old farm site so I sometimes find interesting things.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Playing with Bones

LOL - youse guys should see the lab... I got bones, horns, teeth, skulls, claws, and other odd bits of critters stacked up everywhere.

Some of it I find in the woods, some of it comes from trappers (mostly people who have been doing it as a way of life for generations - very often, Native Americans living a traditional lifestyle).

The stuff I bring in from Africa comes from people who hunt these animals for food, then sell off the parts that people will buy to supplement their income. Some also comes from government wildlife management culls - when these are sold, the money goes back into maintaining wildlife areas, which is important since these countries aren't especially wealthy.

The truth is, as bizarre as it sounds, selling these things and using them benefits our environment in a very direct way.

Besides, you don't need to worry that you're going nuts until you start to find that you have stuff like this laying around the house:



LadyGarnetRose (& also DeseretRose) - the deer bones I used for the bottles were picked up after they had laid out all winter (probably killed by poachers) and the marrow was gone - there was just a bit of that boney webbing inside the joint. That I was able to break up and scrape out with a sharpened screwdriver.

To clean up a pretty raw bone, the beatles are best, but I use the stinky method (you're not supposed to boil bones because it softens them. However, for big heavy walled bones it doesn't hurt).

To clean bones using the stinky method, get two big 5 gallon buckets (the Walmart bakery sell them used for $1). Fill one up with water, dump your bones in it, and set it somewhere safe, far from your house - because it will STINK!

Let it sit for about 2-3 weeks. All the meat, including the marrow, will rot away - that's why it stinks...

Take your second bucket and cut the bottom out. Loosely attach a piece of flexible nylon window screen (or something similar) to the mouth of the bucket.

Holding your nose, pour the contents of the stinky bucket into the second bucket. The bones will be caught in the screen, and all the disgusting stinky stuff will flow out the bottom, into the ground.

The bones will still have a lot of grease in them, and may start to smell rancid after a while. To avoid this, hose down your bones and put them back into the first bucket, fill it with water, and add about 2 cups of ammonia. Let it sit for another week, then pour out the juice into that second bucket.

Rinse the bones with water and set them in the sun to bleach and dry.

If the bones are stained, don't try to bleach them with laundry bleach - it tends to break down the bones. Instead, soak them in hydrogen peroxide ($1 a pint at Walmart) for as long as it take to remove the staining.

On the other hand, if you want them to look aged, you can soak them in tea or coffee.